My Journey to Kuantan - Part 4 - Love at First Sight

This week I am sharing a series of blog posts explaining how I ended up where I am today - in Kuantan. If you have missed any previous posts, you can get yourself acquainted with them here:

PART 1 - RAISED IN ENGLAND (1982-2002)


PART 2 - SERVING AS A VOLUNTEER (2002-2004)


PART 3 - MISSING MALAYSIA (2004-2005)

I came back to Malaysia for my second holiday in a year in May 2005. This time I went alone and for a period of 3 months. I had planned all the places I was going to visit and the people I wanted to see, including Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Kuching and Singapore.

However, just a few days into my holiday, on the island of Borneo, a girl called Fidelia threw my plans upside-down in a matter of seconds!

Meeting Fidelia one night in Kuching was completely unplanned. I didn't even know she was around. It was her younger sister Florina, who made the call and engineered our meeting.

It was after 10pm and Fidelia was coming back home from work. She walked through the door of a friend's house and it was love at first sight!

I don't know how it happened but I just thought silently in my mind, "this is the girl I'm going to marry!"

This was a picture we took on that first night we met each other. We look good together already!

Just a month later we were engaged. Can you believe it? Neither can I!

Here's where I proposed to Fidelia with a poem I wrote. Can you tell she said "yes"?!

We held a very simple engagement party at Fidelia's home. Didn't cost much but it was a nice evening spent with family and friends

Can you spot the mystery hovering paper plate?!

I briefly went to Ipoh but didn't last long there as I missed Fidelia too much! I swiftly returned to Kuching! The rest of my holiday was spent with Fidelia in Kuching and then in Kuala Lumpur.

At church in Kuching

We came in 2nd place and won RM100 in a blowpipe competition in Kuching! (How good does Fidelia look?!)

At Mid-valley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur

Our favourite picture together at KL Tower

We had a great day out at Sunway Lagoon water park. Later we spent some time on a children's train, and chocolate tasting at Sunway Pyramid, Subang Jaya, West Malaysia

Here's where my holiday came to an end. I was shortly heading back to England. Fidelia was returning to her studies at university near Kuantan.

I racked up a hefty RM12,000 phone bill during the period of August 2005 - April 2006. Gave my mum a cheque each month to cover it. At times it was worth it, but at times we drove each other crazy by calling at all sorts of hours (because of the time difference) and worrying about things that didn't really need to be worried about! These months were torture!

 We decided to get married in May 2006 and we would find a place in nearby Kuantan as Fidelia's university was 30 minutes drive from there.

Here are the home-made wedding invitation cards I designed. Didn't pay a penny for them!

On 2nd May, 2006 we registered our marriage at the Kuching register office, and came back to sign the papers on 4th May

To celebrate our marriage we simply booked a nearby restaurant for a small sum of money. A good-sized group of family and friends attended and it was a very nice evening. There was no huge cake, no lavish setting, no photographers, no expensive clothing code, just us and close family and friends. That's all we spent and it was worth it because we needed the money for the start of our married life, paying rent and bills etc...

We took some great photos at a studio in Kuching for a good price, and here are a few of them:

In traditional Iban attire

The second part of our marriage took place in England. There we were married inside a LDS temple, which event is kind of like going to Mecca and circling the Kaaba for a Muslim. To find out more about Mormon temples, you can follow this link:

What happens inside a LDS temple?

Have a look inside a LDS temple

Browse LDS temples all around the world

Here we are at the London England temple grounds

On the steps of the London England temple

We had a small gathering at my home in Leicester for family and friends and that was it.

My journey to Kuantan is almost complete!

Don't miss the final installment tomorrow!

6 years of marriage and Kuantan

My wife and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary yesterday. The month of May also marks 6 years of our living in Kuantan.

Kuantan has been a great home for us since 2006. We started with NOTHING and gradually built up our own presence and now have our own company, Horne Learning Services which is going very well.

Our 6 years of marriage has blessed us with two lovely daughters, unplanned, but deeply grateful for. Yesterday I was teaching English at Vistana Hotel Kuantan in the late afternoon, and returned home around 7:30pm to a surprise dinner hosted by my wife!

After teaching English in the cold air-conditioning at Vistana Hotel whilst having a runny nose, and cycling home feeling quite tired, it was certainly a pleasure to be able to walk through the door to find a lovely dinner waiting on the table, and my equally gorgeous wife welcoming me home.

Here is a beautiful image of a lasting Kuantan sight - Teluk Chempedak beach. We had a nice day out there on Labour Day.

Fidelia's Friday - Wonderful husband of mine!

Where do I begin? Today's post is all about my dearest husband. I would like to make a small contribution for my lovely husband which he totally deserves.

I was inspired to write about Duncan when he cycled to the National Registration Department yesterday to get Leah's MyKid (Malaysian Children Identity Card). I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who is willing to cycle for 30 minutes rather than having me drive there and leave Leah at home. Leah needs me because I am fully breastfeeding her and I don't like to pump my milk and store it in a feeding bottle because she doesn't like it. 

When I gave birth to Lauren and Leah, he would cycle to the hospital to see me. He didn't want to trouble anyone to take him there. Every time he arrived at the maternity ward, there would always be a big smile on his face despite all the tiredness and sweat. Cycling from our apartment to the hospital takes about 20 minutes. To cycle under the hot and humid weather back and fro? Yes, it is very hard work! Kudos to him! Not many people can do that.

Duncan will also cycle to the post office to pay our bills. It saves time to find a parking space if we drive there. He can just lock his bicycle in front of the post office which is very convenient. 

Another thing that Duncan always does is food shopping. With two young children, that can be very difficult. Duncan always volunteers to do it himself. He will walk all the way to the supermarket with his back-pack and come home carrying all the food. He prefers me to stay with the children at the comfort of our home. How sweet and thoughtful of him.

There are so many things that he has done that I could mention here but the most important thing that I want everyone to know is that he is a husband and a father who is willing to sacrifice himself so me and the children  can have a better life.

Lauren wouldn't want any other daddy than Duncan. She told me herself. She loves her daddy so much and she can't be apart from him for a long time. She would ask "Where's daddy? Why is he so long? I miss him!" Most of the time, he'll only be gone for 3 hours. Try to imagine when her daddy goes to Singapore. Yes, I have to answer her all the time!

Leah is always excited when her daddy comes to talk and play with her. Duncan knows how to make Leah smile and laugh. One of the reasons I fell in love with Duncan is he is a very funny guy. I love it! 

I am the luckiest woman alive to be married to him. I wouldn't want anyone else. We've been married for more than 5 years and I am still so much in love with him. I am looking forward for many years to come with him. 

How do you find your married life? Do you love it or you wish you never got married? Or you prefer to stay single? I love mine. I love being married and a guy named Duncan David Horne makes it a wonderful experience.

Our 5th Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday my wife and I marked our 5th wedding anniversary. The time has gone by so quickly!

My wife prepared a most beautiful lunch of roast chicken and potatoes with gravy, which we eat on special occasions. I decided that we should dine out on our balcony. Despite 34C temperatures, our balcony fortunately sits in the shade during the day, and we had a fan placed nearby to blow welcome cool air over us.

I also printed out our wedding pictures from 5 years ago so we can put them into an album. Previously they have just been stored on cd, but they are so nice that I want them to be more accessible :)

Our wedding pictures from May 2006:

And here are a few pictures from yesterday, 5 years on...

This great cake was made by our neighbour, Dora

Our anniversary lunch out on the balcony

A difficult Start

"Ataraxy" - a state of serene calmness.
(Each day I'll be presenting a word or two here, and attempting to use them in the post)

For my first post of the A-Z April blogging challenge, I didn't want to entitle it "A-Z blogging challenge" or anything else obvious. Too easy. I thought about 'April' and talking about springtime, but there are no distinct seasons in Kuantan apart from 'hot' and 'wet'.

I considered 'Autumn' since that is the season in Australia now, where my sister-in-law and former English student currently reside and study. But it still doesn't have much to do with me.

And so as I wondered how much more difficult it could get, it struck me - "A difficult start."

My wife and I endured a rather difficult start to our married life in Kuantan. We moved here in late May, 2006. My wife was mid-way through her studies and I was facing the bleak prospect of moving to a place I never knew existed, with no job, no channel of earning money. That was really scary.

I worried about a dwindling supply of money which we were living on as a wedding gift from my parents. (I'm beyond grateful for a magnificent set of parents whose monetary offering proved absolutely vital in the early months of our married life. Simply, we wouldn't have been able to survive without it.)

I also worried that I'd never find a job, or a working visa from a stubborn Malaysian immigration. I agonised over paying bills, rent, buying food, (later) a car, paying a taxi to send my wife 32km to university and back every day. I had no friends and no knowledge of the area. At times it felt daunting. Long-term survival did seem an impossibility.

Then our house got robbed. We lost a laptop, camera and cd player. They even took our pot of coins. My ataraxic hopes vanished. Now I trusted no-one. Every single person I saw was viewed as a suspect. It was a horrible state to be in.

A difficult start indeed. . . . .

. . . . . to be continued

What difficulties have you been faced with in life? How did you overcome them?

Malay Wedding in Kuantan

We were invited to a Malay wedding here in Kuantan at the Dewan Jubli Perak Sultan Ahmad Shah. My English tuition student Karimah, and her husband, celebrated the marriage of their daughter Rosmaliza (Rose) to Nahar. We received this elegant invitation card about a month ago from Karimah:

This is a beautiful piece of calligraphy in Arabic of a verse about marriage from the Holy Qu'ran

Here are a few views of the Dewan Jubli Perak Sultan Ahmad Shah, where the Malay wedding was held:

The garden surroundings bore some lovely images of nature:

We entered the building and took our seats at an empty table, and I began snapping away as guests and VIP's arrived intermittently, some on time, some awfully late.

A rose petal-lined carpet led to the marriage seat

The garden theme continued inside the building where the names of the wedded couple were crafted with white flowers

The stage was decorated with candles and lanterns

A water feature, snazzy bridge, and a couple of (real) swans completed the decorations

REAL swans! Yes! I was amazed that they didn't just fly away during the ceremony. It was almost as if they had been trained to specifically stay exactly where they were.

Meanwhile, these are the pictures taken from our table before the bride and groom made their entrance:

Lauren was a little bored at first...

...but she soon puckered up once we got her new stamps out!

Terry the tortoise came along of course, and took his seat!

Lauren brushed her hair so that she could look her best!

The walk down the aisle began, culminating with the arrival of the couple, Rose and Nahar

Photographers thronged the carpet to get the best shots

Accompanied by bridesmaids and smartly dressed boys in bow-ties, Rose and Nahar make their way to the marriage seat

The actual ceremony was quite short, which was nice, and then the food was devoured by all in attendance. The dessert, a chocolate fountain with assorted fruits, was my highlight!

Next came the time to cut the cake. Rose and Nahar had a five-story cake to get their hands on, back on stage:

The groom prepares a slice of cake for his wife

She pauses for the cameras before eating it up, to his delight

Nahar gives his bride a kiss on the cheek

They stop on the bridge for more pictures

They must have been tired of all the smiling as a constant stream of photographs were taken of them at every opportunity

There were some other little decorations which added a beautiful touch to the entire wedding ceremony:

The lighted lanterns beside white roses were an exquisite touch as the bride and groom partook of the food on offer, as is seen on the giant screen in the background

The swans were a big attraction

Budgerigars observed the events quietly before being released to their freedom after the wedding ceremony came to an end

Eggs in miniature buckets were given out as gifts for those in attendance

Me with my lovely batik shirt, just before we left at the conclusion of the wedding ceremony

A final family picture in the car park area